A two-man blues act selling out the Troubadour is always a sign that something interesting is going on. The Black Keys is singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney out of Akron, Ohio, playing dense, heavy, electric blues that's well rooted in the past, yet finds a punkish edge in its rawness to stand as a true alternative to today's overproduced and overthought sounds. With his collegiate goatee, Auerbach, in his early 20s, looks more like an English major than a funk band veteran, but stepping to the mike, he's full of black cat moans and mad dog howls, down in the hole, digging his way out, with partner Carney cutting a path ahead of him with pile-driver drums.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.